Judicium Dies Diei
by DJE
Summary: Sequel to Tempus Fugit. Harper realises that the day he has feared is finally near.
1. Default Chapter

1 "Judicium Dies Diei" [Part One]  
  
It is widely said that ignorance is bliss.  
  
Does this mean that knowledge is torture, is pain and is suffering?  
  
The Only Answer is Yes  
  
1.1.1 Starlight Empathy  
  
C.Y. 10088  
  
1.1.1.1 Harper stood alone, and stared across at the beautiful, sweeping landscape. He wanted to be alone. Mountains and glorious Than architecture stretched miles around him. It was all he could see. The towering, heavenly buildings stretched to the sky and beyond, and Harper could do nothing but stare at their magnificence.  
  
He stood on a massive bridge, which stretched across a deep valley. Two cliffs on either side fell down to the abyss below. He stood still, with his hands tightly clutching the twisting bar that ran along the side of the bridge. He wasn't the only one there. The bridge was populated by sightseers of all races. Many people came from across the known galaxies to see a sunset on Syn-Avan-Dar. But it was mostly Than.  
  
The sun was getting low in the sky now. The light was fading quickly. Harper was enveloped in a darkening twilight. It was a beautiful sight. The sun was setting below the gap of the two cliff edges. Far off in the distance, light only escaped through the gap off the valley. It was only minutes now until the sun went down. Harper couldn't help but feel that there may only ever be one more.  
  
The Andromeda Ascendant had arrived on Syn-Avan-Dar a day ago. Since then, Harper had been increasingly uneasy. He was nervous. He had seen Syn-Avan- Dar before. But he tried not to remember that. He had only seen it through a recording. A recording of a dark day in history. A day that, if the timeline didn't change, would be in two days. And then, billions of Than- Thre-Kull would die.  
  
He still hadn't told anyone about what had happened. Everybody knew that something had happened to him. Rommie had deduced that it was something to do with time travel, and the future. She had detected fragments of time space radiation throughout his body. She knew that something had happened. Something in the future. Everybody did. But he wouldn't tell anybody. It was too hard for him to talk about.  
  
Harper blinked back a lonely tear as the last, golden red rays of the sun disappeared below the horizon. The skyline was suddenly a glowing red. The silver blue colours of the Than buildings reflected in the crimson sky. It truly was the most beautiful sight that Harper could remember.  
  
It was some time before Harper realised that there was somebody standing beside him. Somebody he knew. Trance Gemini held the curving bar where Harper's hands didn't. Harper looked around, and most people on the bridge had gone. He looked into Trance's eyes. She cared. Not just for him. For everybody.  
  
"Harper," Trance greeted him, the last crimson glow of the sun shining in her eyes. It made her light purple skin, look ever more beautiful. "Are you OK?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Harper lied. He turned back to see only darkness envelop the valleys now. The beauty had gone.  
  
"We have to get back," Trance told him. "To the An-Tallith"  
  
The An-Tallith was the massive, palace structure that formed the residence of the Overdiamond, leader of the Than Hegemony, when he was present on Syn- Avan-Dar. The Overdiamond had contacted Captain Hunt and told him that the Than Hegemony would be interested in signed his Commonwealth Charter.  
  
They had escorted the Overdiamond to Syn-Avan-Dar, where he wished to show the Andromeda and her crew the beauty of the Than world. Then, at a formal meeting in a day, he would sign the charter in the public eye, on the An- Talltih's balcony.  
  
"Right," Harper complied. He and Trance walked away from the bridge together, side by side, towards the An-Tallith, rising to the sky in front of them.  
  
"Are you sure that you're OK?" Trance persisted. "You've been acting strangely since we arrived here. Its only because I care."  
  
Harper knew that she cared. He wanted to tell her so badly. If he was going to tell anyone, he wanted to tell Trance first. But he didn't know how. He didn't know how to begin. What would he say? "Oh remember when we destroyed that Than fleet? Well they were from the future! And guess what, in a couple days we're gonna murder a few billion more Than!" Harper said it to himself. In his head. It was hard. He had to tell her. Soon.  
  
"It's just," he began. He didn't know what he was going to say next. "Do you remember when we were at Haephastos. I told Dylan to destroy the Than fleet?" He surprised himself.  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Harper couldn't stop now. He had started telling Trance something he had wanted to tell her for months. It was finally out. He had started. He couldn't finish, until he was finished. "If we hadn't destroyed that fleet," he continued, "it would have destroyed us. The Andromeda would have been gone. All of you would have been dead."  
  
The shock was evident on Trance's face. She stopped walking and turned to face Harper. "Only I survived." Harper was determined to tell his story. "The Than pulled me through the Slipstream fifty years into the future. They told me that we visited Syn-Avan-Dar. In that reality, after we had been here for three days, we fired two Nova Bombs. Everybody on Syn-Avan- Dar was killed. Two billion Than that we murdered."  
  
"That can't be true. Why would we do that?" Trance voiced the thoughts that had gone through Harper's head, when he was told the same story.  
  
"That's what I said," Harper answered. "But they showed me. A Than showed me a recording of what happened. Now we're here, and the day after next, we're gonna kill all these people."  
  
Trance didn't know what to say. Neither did Harper. There was a silence. "Why didn't you tell us before?"  
  
"I couldn't. It was hard. They tortured me. They killed all of my friends. I watched you die. I watched them die. It was so hard." With the last sentence Harper broke down in tears. Trance gently put her arms around him. They stood there for a long while. Harper cried. Trance held him.  
  
"Harper, I'm so sorry," Trance said to him. She fought back her own tears as she gradually realised how much they had hurt Harper.  
  
Some time later Harper stopped crying. They talked for a while and they carried on towards the An-Tallith. Harper told her the full story. Everything. Every detail. Every feeling. Everything that had happened. As the night continued to draw on, Trance took Harper's hand in hers, and they held hands as they walked.  
  
Harper felt happier than he had for a long time. For too long now the horror of what had happened to him had been weighing on his mind. He had been playing through with it in his mind, trying to work out what he should do. Now it was out. Now he could do something about it.  
  
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"Seamus Harper," the Than-Thre-Kull Overdiamond greeted the human as he entered his glorious chamber. "It is a pleasure to welcome you to the An- Talltih."  
  
"Thankyou, Overdiamond," Harper replied. Then he plunged his hand deep in his pocket. He pulled out a small computer chip. "Sir, I have something for you."  
  
"Seamus?" The Than stood up from his throne chair. His shining blue, silvery skin sparkled in the dim light, and a white robe rested loosely, yet comfortably on his shoulders. Although he lived in a much more splendid, and glorious place than any other Than, and he was more decorated than any other, the Overdiamond didn't see himself as any more or less equal to any one. He was hailed as the best leader the Hegemony had ever had.  
  
"Overdiamond – "  
  
"Please call me Dusk," the Overdiamond announced. That was his name. Translated into common that Than name roughly read as Falling Fire at Dusk. Dusk for short.  
  
"Dusk, I have this." Harper handed him the small, rectangular computer chip. "I don't know what's on it. It's for you." He hesitated. "From the future."  
  
"The future?" Dusk did not believe him. That much was evident.  
  
"I don't know if this will mean anything, but its from a Than called, Ashes of Lightning."  
  
"Ashes of Lightning!" Falling Fire at Dusk was surprised. He didn't hide it well. He stepped forward further and took the chip. "Ashes of Lightning is but an infant boy. He is my own kin. My flesh and blood. My son."  
  
Harper gasped. That had come unexpected. He swallowed any words that were on his lips. He was temporarily lost. He didn't know what to say. "When I saw Lightning, he must have been in his fifties."  
  
"My god," Dusk said. He was surprised as well.  
  
"I don't know what's on the chip, but I have a good idea. Lightning asked me to give it to you. He asked that it go only to you, and nobody else."  
  
"Thankyou," Dusk acknowledged what Harper had done. "Thankyou," he repeated.  
  
Harper left the room swiftly. He let the Overdiamond watch the recording on his own.  
  
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It was early morning. The next day. The Overdiamond had announced that he was preparing to sign the Commonwealth Charter at midday. Harper was still asleep. He was in his own, beautiful chamber.  
  
For the first night in as long as he could remember, Harper's dreams had not been plagued by the usual nightmares. He had slept well. He had dreamt of Trance. He was snapped back into the waking world by Dylan's crisp voice.  
  
"Harper." The voice commanded. "Harper, wake up!"  
  
He slowly opened his eyes and light nearly blinded him. "Crap," he cried as the light temporarily distorted his vision. "What is it?"  
  
"Overdiamond, Falling Fire at Dusk has just been to see me," Dylan announced. "He showed me this," Dylan held up the chip into Harper's view.  
  
"So now everybody knows," Harper said.  
  
"Yes, everybody knows," Dylan was angry. "Why didn't you tell me before?"  
  
"That doesn't matter," Harper said as he rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. He washed away the night, and was ready for whatever the day could throw at him. "All that matters is that its OK now. Everybody knows. We can leave. We don't even have any Nova Bombs."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"At Haephastos," Harper said. "I told you to fire ALL of the Nova Bombs at the Than."  
  
Then there was a silence. An awkward silence. Harper sensed that something was wrong.  
  
Dylan stepped back. Guilt spread across his face. "H. Ha. Harper," he stuttered, "If you'd have told me."  
  
"You didn't fire them all did you?" Harper cried as he stood up from the bed. "You kept some back. Let me guess. Two?"  
  
"Two," Dylan said, "I kept two Nova Bombs. I didn't know this would happen."  
  
"You lied to me," Harper shouted. "You told me you fired them all."  
  
"I know," Dylan said, ashamed. "And for that I'm sorry. But it's still OK."  
  
Harper sat back down on the bed. He put his head in his hands. After a while he turned to stare out of the window. The Than city looked much more beautiful in the day light. Now he could see every detail of the buildings. Every detail of the parts of the An-Tallith that he could see.  
  
He turned back to Dylan. "How?" He demanded. "How is it OK? You don't know what could happen between now and then." The nightmare was starting all over again.  
  
"Dusk can sign the charter," Dylan said. "When that's done, we can return to the Andromeda. Decommission the bombs. Leave here if we have to."  
  
Harper was satisfied with that. For the time being. It seemed easy enough. He looked at Dylan and he realised that he did trust him. They trusted each other. But, would it be OK?  
  
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The sleek, magnificent shape of the Andromeda Ascendant glided effortlessly through space. She circled around Syn-Avan-Dar slowly. Her corridors were empty. Even her humanoid body was down on the planet.  
  
She could see the multiple colours of the planet's atmosphere as the gases twisted together. She could also see a massive, dark green space station. It was obviously Than. Obvious through the towering rods that protruded from the main structure. Obvious from the colour and the way that it was built.  
  
The station was the base of operations for the Than fleet that worked from Syn-Avan-Dar. The Hegemon's Guard as it was called. It was mainly based on Syn-Avan-Dar, as the planet proved to be a great tactical advantage against the Than's current enemies. Thousands of Than warships surrounded the planet and the station. They were stationary. All of them.  
  
But all of a sudden, the ship jolted with a weapons strike. The hull was ripped open by the pounding of weapons. The bulkheads ruptured. Andromeda was glad that her crew was on the planet. Her holographic manifestation watched as hundreds of Than ships shot their weapons at her. They weren't the Hegemon's Guard, she realised. They were enemies. They were attacking the station as well.  
  
She watched panels explode in front of her. She was helpless. She was only a hologram. She could do nothing. Then she felt her own existence begin to fade. She realised that the Than were boarding her. They were sending a jamming signal through her systems. She was shutting down.  
  
"CODE RED," she screamed. "CODE RED. CODE RED. INTRUDER ALERT. CODE RED."  
  
But nobody heard her vein calls. Nobody but the Than invaders. And they didn't care. Nobody could do anything.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED… 


	2. 

1 "Judicium Dies Diei" [Part Two]  
  
What Will Be, Will Be.  
  
But Sometimes,  
  
Time Tells a Different Tale.  
  
1.1.1 Last Vedran Empress- Sucharitkull XII  
  
C.Y. 9783  
  
The massive shape of the An-Tallith stood behind them all now. They all stood on the balcony. It overlooked the huge town square where countless Than stood. Watching. Falling Fire at Dusk and an Emerald Than stood at the front of the stage. Than guards lined the arena and Dylan, Rommie, Beka, Tyr, Harper, Rev and Trance stood behind them.  
  
The Than that was speaking at the moment, was known, as Dark Thunder of Night. He was the leader of the Hegemon's Guard. The Than fleet. He was speaking to the people. Andromeda and her crew would give the occasional, worried glance back at Harper. But he was OK, for the moment.  
  
He looked out across the city and remembered it well. He had stood out there, in the crowd and watched as the Nova Bombs had impacted on the ground. Worry welled up inside him, but there was nothing he could do.  
  
"And now, I give you our Overdiamond," Harper heard Dark Thunder of Night announcing, "Falling Fire at Dusk."  
  
Dark Thunder of Night, the Emerald Than signalled back to the Diamond Than and let him take the stage. Harper paid no attention to what he had to say. His mind was occupied on other things.  
  
An official document sat on the stand in front of the Overdiamond. It was the Commonwealth Charter. It remained unsigned. As it always would.  
  
It seemed that the Than had finished his speech. He was about to sign the charter on behalf of all Than. But then, the heavens fell. From the skies, thousands of Than warships fell. Weapons blazing. Targeted at the An- Tallith.  
  
It seemed as though everything was going in slow motion. The Overdiamond dived to the floor for cover. Dark Thunder of Night raced towards the troop barracks. They were ready to fight. Dylan and the Andromeda's crew got their weapons ready. As if it would do any good.  
  
One of the warships shot overhead. The roaring sounds of its engines thudded in Harper's ears, while constant drone of its weapons was becoming just another background noise. One of the main towers of the An-Tallith erupted into flames. It toppled. It fell.  
  
"We have to get to the Andromeda," Harper heard Dylan shout. "We can defend ourselves."  
  
"Harper," it was Dusk's voice. The Overdiamond. "Please," he said as he got to his feet. He ducked away from fire. It was useless. If he was going to be hit, he was going be hit. "Please Harper," he repeated, "find the nursery. Find my children. Save them."  
  
"I will," Harper cried as he ran from the balcony. He was closely followed by Rev Bem and Trance. They headed towards the nursery.  
  
Beka, Tyr, Rommie and Dylan remained on the balcony. Enemy Than ground troops were pouring into the city and shooting everywhere. When they could, Tyr and Dylan would fire a shot into the crowd. More often than not, it did no good.  
  
"Why the hell is this happening," Rommie cried out. Nobody answered.  
  
"Let's get the Maru," Beka cried. "Hurry." They did. Rommie and Dylan helped the Overdiamond and they headed towards the Maru. The Andromeda was the only safe place.  
  
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The doors to the nursery were already open. They sat there, not closing, doing nothing. A fountain of fiery sparks flew from the archway. A sickening feeling developed in the back of Harper's throat. He dodged the flames and stepped inside.  
  
A Than he recognised came rushing to him instantly. She did not know him. Yet. "Starlight Empathy," he greeted her. Surprise tore across her Amber face. But she had no time now. Harper remembered her as an elderly Than, but here, she was young. She was a nurse.  
  
Harper held her shoulders as he remembered her. "Thankyou so much," was all he could say. She had saved him, at his greatest hour of need. Without her, he would truly now be dead.  
  
"We have to save these children." Trance told the Amber Than. "Where can we take them?"  
  
"There is a transport pod in the docking bay, only a few metres away," Starlight Empathy told her. "We should be able to make it there."  
  
Harper was not interested in what they had to say. He was searching through the crowds of children. He was looking. Then he found what he wanted. He recognised him instantly. A young, Than boy. Emerald Than. He looked up at Harper, his small infant eyes showing no recognition. But Harper recognised him. It was Ashes of Lightning. The one that had shown him the truth. In the future.  
  
"You won't understand what I have to say to you today," Harper said to the boy, "but please. I want to thankyou. Hopefully you'll never have to know what I'm talking about." Harper looked at the boy for some time. Contemplating.  
  
Then, a weapon hit close and the entire room shook. Children around him screamed, and Harper realised how urgent their mission had become.  
  
"Who would be doing this?" Rev Bem asked Starlight Empathy.  
  
"I haven't got a clue," she answered as they began to guide children away from the nursery. "I thought that every Than from here to the lost world of Tarn Vedra supported the Commonwealth. Obviously, I was wrong."  
  
Within hardly any time at all, they found themselves in the docking bay. Starlight, Harper, Trance and Rev loaded the children on to the pod. They were ready to go. Fire erupted from a nearby wall to convey the urgency again. The enemy Than were persistent in their attack.  
  
"You are coming aren't you?" Starlight Empathy said to Harper.  
  
"We can't," Harper said. "You have to get to safety, we have to get to the Andromeda."  
  
Suddenly, a massive warship smashed through the docking bay doors, shattering the bulkheads into endless streams of fire and metal. The warship burst into flame as it collided with the opposing wall. Harper had no choice but to slam the shuttle door shut on the Than children and their nurse.  
  
The ship slowly shot away. It was opposed by Than warships. They all watched as a streaking glow of red fire shot from the shuttle. But Harper hoped they were all OK. He didn't know but he hoped.  
  
"We have to find the Maru now!" Rev announced. "Lets just hope they have waited for us."  
  
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"Dylan, I'm not detecting anything from the Andromeda." It was Rommie's voice. Luckily, the Maru had waited for them. Now she fled through the fiery skies of Syn-Avan-Dar towards the Andromeda. Dylan, Beka, Tyr, Rev, Trance, Harper, Rommie and the Overdiamond were eager to get to the ship. To safety. A rain of fire fell from the skies.  
  
The Maru's inept weapons tried desperately to fight of, the Than resistance that they met. But it was no good. The Than ships continued to attack. They continued to be successful. But now, the Maru was entering the Andromeda's docking bay. They would be safe.  
  
"What does that mean?" Falling Fire at Dusk, questioned.  
  
"I don't know," Rommie responded. "It could just be that my connection is shot," Rommie told him. "But it could be more."  
  
When the Eureka Maru finally crashed violently against the Andromeda's deck, the Overdiamond made the mistake of being the first to step out. He thought that he was stepping out into safety. He was wrong.  
  
The Andromeda's crew ran out just in time to see Falling Fire at Dusk fall to the deck. He was dead. A gaping wound showed on his chest. He had been shot with a Than rifle.  
  
Harper looked up to see Than soldiers ready to greet them. The lead Than, was a Ruby Than. A Than he recognised. A Than he despised with such utter contempt that he was ready to kill him without a moments thought. He already had done once. The Ruby Than, called himself Obsidian Rain.  
  
A shoot out ensued. The blue energy bolts of the Than weapons. The red energy bolts of the High Guard force lances. They all shot across the deck. Several of Obsidian Rain's soldiers were hit. They went down. Rev Bem was hit. Beka was hit. They both went down. Harper grabbed Rev and pulled him out of they way. Trance got Beka in the same way. They headed for the Medical deck. They had to stop the Than.  
  
The shoot out continued. Soon however, all of Obsidian's soldiers were dead. He had more throughout the ship, but they had not made it in time. Rommie and Dylan headed from the Command Deck, while Tyr engaged in a hand to hand combat. He had his fighting pole, which came from the force lance. Obsidian had nothing.  
  
Tyr swept his arms around and the force lance smacked the Than in the head. He went down. "That's for taking our ship," Tyr cried at him. He lashed out again and smacked him in the back. He fell flat against the floor below. "That's for the Commonwealth." He kicked him one last time. "That's for making me care what happens," as he thrust the force lance into the Than's back. He then retreated. Left the Than in the docking bay.  
  
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Flashes of memory, images of Obsidian Rain raced through Harper's mind. Beka and Rev lay unconscious in the beds as Trance saw to their wounds. Harper pounded the consoles as visions of the torture he endured in Obsidian's hands came to him. The torture. So much pain.  
  
He also wondered what was going on. Had it always happened like this? There had been no Than attack in the recording. Why were things changing now?  
  
Harper had no more time to think however. The doors glided open and a Ruby Than stormed in. Rifle in his hand he shot a round throughout the room. Trance feigned that she was hit and played dead on the floor.  
  
Harper pulled his force lance out. He aimed it at the Than. "This is it." Harper announced. "My revenge."  
  
Obsidian Rain was confused. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"You have no clue? Never mind."  
  
Harper went to shoot the Than but only saw Obsidian's rifle as it struck him in the face. Then he went down to the ground. Things paled into darkness. He heard Than weapons pound the ship. He heard Than hand weapons in the corridors. But he saw none of it. He could do nothing about any of it. He only heard. It was too late.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED… 


	3. 

1 "Judicium Dies Diei" [Part Three]  
  
Fate is a Cruel Instrument of the Divine.  
  
Whenever You Try to Change Something, Fate Steps in the way.  
  
And Everything Always Turns out Worse.  
  
1.1.1 Kaydar May'lin – Wayist  
  
C.Y. 10088  
  
The Medical Bay was quiet. Beka and Rev were sedated. Trance was playing dead. Harper was bound in the corner, struggling but Obsidian's weapon locked on him. He could do nothing.  
  
"I'll get my revenge on you yet," Harper cried. "You tortured me. Now its my turn."  
  
"Tell me what you're talking about," the Ruby Than instructed in a harsh, but composed voice. He was trying to hide his anger and frustration. He usually knew everything that was going on. Everything. Before anybody. But this was different. This human knew something about him that he didn't.  
  
"I get it now," Harper said, "there was no Nova Bombs. It wasn't us. You just blamed it on us. You destroyed Syn-Avan-Dar and you made a false recording and blamed it on us." He was wrong.  
  
"I do not know you, and you do not know me," Obsidian let his rage loose and he shouted in anger. He pounded his fist against the console. It shattered.  
  
"You do. You will. Or you would have done."  
  
Obsidian continued to look at Harper. "I have no time for you know," he told the inferior human. "I have work to be done."  
  
"You're planning to destroy Syn-Avan-Dar," Harper cried. "You have been all along. Now that the Overdiamond is dead, you want to take over the Hegemon's Guard and start a new Hegemony. Yourself."  
  
"NO," Obsidian Rain shouted out, even louder than before.  
  
"No," Harper complied. "The Sentinel," he was coming to realisation. "That's what Lightning said. He told me that the Sentinel and the Guard had been locked in civil war ever since this day. You started it. Here. On Syn- Avan-Dar. The war was because YOU destroyed the planet."  
  
"You have no idea what you're talking about." Obsidian leaned in so that he was close to Harper's face. "You never will," he said. There was a sudden rip through the air as Obsidian was shot in the back. He was still alive. But he fell on Harper unconscious.  
  
Soon, Trance pulled the Than away from Harper and unbound him. "You get to the Command Deck. I'll see to Beka and Rev."  
  
"OK," Harper said, "leave him alone. Put him outside in the corridor. But when he wants to come for me. Let him come."  
  
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On the surface everything was in chaos. Dark Thunder of Night led his troops in fierce battle against the Sentinel. They were bold. Fortune favours the bold. But not today. They were shot back. The Sentinel's superior fire power overcame them. Dark Thunder of Night watched in fear as buildings fell into ashes. The An-Tallith crumbled into a ruined tower of fire and ashes. It was coming to an end.  
  
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"I still can't contact the ship," Rommie cried above the roar of fire on the Command Deck. "The Than must have control of my systems."  
  
"Then we're sitting ducks," Tyr shouted. "That's no good. I WON'T ACCEPT THAT."  
  
Dylan fired continuos streams of force lance energy through the door way. Than were trying to get into Command. He wouldn't let them. "We have to get out of here."  
  
"That would be retreating," Rommie stated the obvious. "I've said it before, I'll say it again. I'm a warship, I don't like walking away from a fight." She said the last sentence with determination as she marched towards two Than that had made their way to the deck. They headed towards her. They didn't expect her to grab them by the throats. She did. They didn't expect her to break their necks. She did. "I'm a warship. If you compromise me, I will kill you," she cried at their already dead bodies.  
  
Harper suddenly ran onto the deck. "Its OK," Harper said. "We're not responsible for Syn-Avan-Dar's destruction. We never were. It was a fabrication."  
  
"I wouldn't be too sure," Rommie told him, "the Than have control of my systems. They could fire those Nova bombs whenever they want."  
  
"No," Harper cried. The nightmare continued. "Obsidian Rain."  
  
"Who?" Tyr questioned as he took up the pilot's station. He tried to guide the ship through the enemy fire but it didn't work.  
  
"The leader of the Than rebels." Realisation flooded over Harper. He understood it all. He hoped. All along. The Sentinel had been led by Obsidian Rain. They destroyed Syn-Avan-Dar to gain their own power. But it went wrong. They started a civil war between the remaining Guard and Sentinel. Harper could change it. They had control of the Andromeda. Were they going to fire the Nova Bombs?  
  
Again, Harper had little time to think. Obsidian Rain marched on to the deck. He was unopposed after he knocked Dylan out. Rommie tried but failed. Tyr went to him and fought him again. They locked in combat. Harper faced to a console. He quickly pressed illuminated keys to gain access to the weapons locker. He was trying to disarm the Nova Bombs.  
  
"Dylan," he cried. He needed Dylan's command code. The computer would only accept the code, and voice recognition. But Dylan was out cold. It was no use. He felt himself thump against the deck. Tyr was lying on the deck; a pulse weapon wound gushing with dark blood onto his skin. Obsidian Rain took up the controls Harper had been using.  
  
"HELP US!" The Guard leader. Dark Thunder of Night screamed over the comm.  
  
Obsidian pounded at the consoles. They were in Vedran. Easy to understand. He had no hard work to do. He had already overridden all of Andromeda's systems. He had control.  
  
"NO!!" Harper cried in desperation. Tears streamed down his face. He knew what was going to happen.  
  
Suddenly, it happened. Two bright bolts shot from the Andromeda. They sparkled slowly. They fell down to the planet. The tinted blue shine reflected through Harper's tears. His endless tears. "This can't be happening," he told himself.  
  
Obsidian Rain stood there. A look of utter delight on his face. Until Tyr hit him. The Nietzschean had a long rod of metal that he stole from the Andromeda's ruptured bulkheads. He hit out again.  
  
The Nova Bombs continued to descend. Harper remembered the bombs as they impacted the surface. He remembered what he saw.  
  
This time, he saw it for real. As they struck, an unimaginable flash of immense light glared out. But only for a second. Then, as quick as anything he had ever seen, Harper witnessed the blue streaks of burning fire rip across the surface. Everything was incinerated.  
  
On the surface, Dark Thunder of Night saw sky high waves of burning flame rush towards him. It truly was the end.  
  
Then it happened again. As Harper had seen it. The planet itself burst into chaos. It exploded into thousands of shreds of hope. Fire came pouring through space. It was over. The nightmare was over. It had ended.  
  
Harper looked up. It was all he could do. He saw Dylan take up the pilot's control and guide them towards Slipstream. He heard Rommie tell them all that she had control of the systems again. She was fighting off the Than with internal weapons.  
  
He watched.  
  
Obsidian Rain and Tyr Anasazi fought. Tyr struck Obsidian again. "You will die, here today." He screamed. Tears were streaming down even Tyr's face. He could not imagine the scale of the genocide they had just witnessed.  
  
"This is for Harper," he shouted as he struck the Than one last time. But the Than was strong. He got to his feet. He was ready to face Tyr. But he had no choice. A bullet of energy ripped through his chest. Strange, turquoise coloured blood stained his skin.  
  
Harper grabbed his head as Obsidian held on to his last few seconds of life. "You loose," was what Harper said. He knew it wasn't true. He had just killed two billion Than. But then, nobody won.  
  
The Ruby Than fell from Harper's arms. He was dead. Harper's tears flooded down his cheeks. He was prepared to crash against the floor himself. However, he was soon aware, that he was in Tyr's arms.  
  
"Boy," Tyr was saying, "Its OK child."  
  
Harper looked up. They were gliding through space again. They had escaped Syn-Avan-Dar. They had escaped, in a way. A few Than ships had managed to follow them, but they had been easily destroyed. The others. They would have been destroyed in the shock wave that Syn-Avan-Dar would have caused. Such devastation. Such genocide.  
  
"Child," Tyr put on his most sympathetic tone, "child calm down."  
  
Harper fell to his knees. He looked around. There was devastation everywhere. He was tired. He was exhausted. An entire day had passed since the first attack. He had hoped that by know it would all be over. He had been right, but not in the way he wanted.  
  
Everything paled into insignificance as he fell to the deck himself. He lay there, unconscious. He was dreaming. The nightmares were back.  
  
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
  
The nightmares seemed to last forever. Fleeting images. Than faces. Unrecognisable faces. Faces he didn't know. But on them, on each one, was a face of horror. A terrified face. Tears streamed down his face as he slept. Still, tears came.  
  
In his dreams, he remembered the recordings he had watched. He remembered the destruction of Syn-Avan-Dar. The modified end of a world. He remembered the chip he had given to the Overdiamond. He wondered exactly what was on that. Deep down, he didn't really care.  
  
He was woken from his nightmares. This time he was glad. He was surprised to see Tyr's face staring down at him.  
  
"Are you OK child?" the Nietzschean asked him.  
  
"I will be," Harper said.  
  
"There was nothing you could have done," Tyr tried to comfort him. "There was nothing any of us could have done."  
  
"Thankyou Tyr," Harper said. "If it wasn't for you, Obsidian Rain would still be alive right now."  
  
"You fired, the bullet," Tyr told him modestly. "Anyway. I did it for you. Don't think I care, but you are like a son to me."  
  
"Thanks," Harper said, trying to feel amused by the Nietzschean's speech. "Don't think I care, but you're like a father."  
  
They smiled at each other. Tyr tried to fight back that smile, but he couldn't. He just smiled. Harper remembered all that he had been through in the last months. And tried to forget it. It was over now. There was nothing he could do. No more fighting. No more nightmares. It was over. He could get on with his life. He hoped. He hoped it was over. He wished that it were the end. Could he get on with his life? The nightmares continued, for a time. But the real nightmare. The one true nightmare. That was over. It was over, forever.  
  
THE END  
  
  
  
1.2 


End file.
